Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Pak Institute For Peace Studies Pvt Ltd. (PIPS)https://www.pakpips.com
An independent think-tankThu, 30 Aug 2018 07:34:24 +0000en-US
hourly
1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.3.3Teachers asked to adopt critical thinking and an inclusive educational approachhttps://www.pakpips.com/article/513
Fri, 03 Jun 2016 10:52:57 +0000http://www.pakpips.com/web/?p=513PIPS workshop with teachers and educationists-II Teachers need to adopt tools of critical inquiry in their own research as well as in teaching others. This will help them keep their teaching content and approaches uninfluenced by political and religious ideologies. While our textbooks and syllabus promote differences among students adhering to different faiths, teachers can […]]]>

PIPS workshop with teachers and educationists-IITeachers need to adopt tools of critical inquiry in their own research as well as in teaching others. This will help them keep their teaching content and approaches uninfluenced by political and religious ideologies. While our textbooks and syllabus promote differences among students adhering to different faiths, teachers can play their role to break such stereotypes against one or another.

These views were expressed by participants of a two-day training workshop titled “Role of teachers in improving social cohesion and religious harmony” organized by Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) in Murree on May 30-31, 2016. More than 36 teachers of Islamic studies, from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, attended the training. The workshop-cum-dialogue was second of a series of three such events, which have been designed to promote tolerant and inclusive educational narratives in the country; first workshop was held in Karachi on April 27-28, 2016.

Starting off the discussion, Mr. Khursheed Nadeem, a scholar who writes weekly column and host a regular TV show on the issues facing Muslim world, wondered as to what is the cause-effect relation between education and society: Does education influence society? Or is it other way around, with society setting agenda for what needs to be taught?

This, he said, is the ultimate paradox in engaging teachers to promoting social harmony.

Elaborating the point, he argued that if education is to direct society, a teacher takes on the steering role. But if the roles are reversed – with society shaping education – then, leaders in the society take the driving seat.

The role of a teacherTouching upon the subject, participants stressed the importance of having “genuine” scholars – those who produce knowledge with direct relevance to social needs. “If scholars stop producing knowledge,” Mr Nadeem warned, “quacks with superficial knowledge will take over.” He advised teachers attending the training to be true “activist”, in the sense of producing research relevant to society. He repeatedly called for scholars and teachers to focus on research and education. They should not be concerned with political ideologies, whatever side of the spectrum. Educational institutions should be concerned with education only. “Research should be their forte,” he emphasized.

Meanwhile, Amir Rana, director PIPS, said in recent times, there have been moves to bridge gap between natural and social sciences. This should be supported. “If we don’t rely on natural and social sciences, those forces will dominate the thinking, who end up paralyzing thinking,” he said.

All agreed that teachers have a central role in not only teaching the content of the courses, but also building characters of their students.

Critical inquirySpeakers advised teachers to adopt tools of critical inquiry in both their own research and teaching others. These tools should empower them to question their own notions, without falling prey to hearsay or getting influenced by political ideologies.

To engage students in research, universities should open up to new thinking – something that requires being ready to “unlearn” things afresh, said former vice chancellor of Peshawar University, Dr. Qibla Ayaz. “We are influenced by different schools of thought; sometimes, it’s necessary to learn from scratch.”

Dr. Ayaz pointed to the 1980s as the pivotal decade when the country’s socio-political worldview changed – all in the name of religion. Because we lacked critical inquiry, we accepted notions that were never untrue, he argued.

Several speakers illuminated how religion was invoked in that history to its national interest. Religion, after all, had a role in society. It is one way to contest India over points like territory or rivers, some argued, but it is another to portray it as a battle between right versus wrong.

Questions of identity and teachingMeanwhile, peace activist Romana Bashir enlisted several problems non-Muslims face in existing educational setup of Pakistan: For one, textbooks still are filled with hate material against non-Muslims. “Our syllabus promotes differences among students”, she said, as a result of which, she added, teachers had to face problems.

She argued that at the time of Pakistan’s creation, there was no such indication that this country was meant for non-Muslims. The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam, also called for a citizenship void of any religious leaning. But that doesn’t appear so. “Today’s majority was minority yesterday”, she reminded.

Scholar A.H. Nayyer called for revising curriculum that includes all instead of creating stereotypes against one or another.

Taking part in the discussion, PIPS director Amir Rana gave overview of how Pakistanis identify themselves. Quoting surveys, he asked participants to ask as to why there is still confusion on whether we are Muslims first or Pakistani first or ethnic groups first. He shared that those who stress upon their Muslim identity either belong to low-income groups or are young. This means, he argued, that many review their own thoughts with changes in socio-economic status or even age. Teachers too operate within such a context.

Media highlighting differencesRenowned journalist Wusutullah Khan recalled that even though the environment in 1960s was much tolerant compared to today’s Pakistan, even then, students were taught in such a way that they couldn’t differ between Hindu and Indian. Sharing example from media, he narrated how the newspapers till 1970s would often report riots or even fistfights in India as some sort of anti-Muslim riots.

Khan agreed that media is to be blamed, saying that media fall for knowledge quacks before media personnel themselves are not well-read and therefore, unable to judge between right and wrong.

Madrassa-university gapA participant brought to attention the gap between worldview of the students of madrassa and universities. “While madrassa student doesn’t give much attention to natural sciences, a university student is believed to have little knowledge of the basic concepts of religion”, he said, saying that people from madrassas, for their austere outlook, are stereotyped and relegated to the lower strata. This gap should be bridged.

]]>Countering radicalization in Pakistan: Efforts must be initiated from within the societyhttps://www.pakpips.com/article/896
Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:07:49 +0000http://www.pakpips.com/web/?p=896It is important to challenge the extremist and literalist interpretations of Islam to prevent further radicalization in Pakistan and defeat the militant groups operating in the country. This was the crux of a seminar organized by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies on July 16, 2010, in Islamabad. The seminar was arranged to launch the […]]]>

It is important to challenge the extremist and literalist interpretations of Islam to prevent further radicalization in Pakistan and defeat the militant groups operating in the country.

This was the crux of a seminar organized by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies on July 16, 2010, in Islamabad.

The seminar was arranged to launch the latest edition of the organization’s quarterly journal, Conflict and Peace Studies. The journal contained the finding of a survey that was recently conducted by PIPS to study the trends and patterns of religious radicalization in Pakistan. The findings were further explained in research papers that examined the phenomenon from multiple dimensions.

While the participants of the seminar agreed on the importance of developing counter narratives to defeat the extremist ideology, they disagreed on the strategy. Dr Maqsudul Hasan Nuri, the acting President of Islamabad Policy Research Institute who chaired the meeting, blamed the state for being negligent in this regard. But Dr Shabana Fayyaz thought that these counter narratives must be developed by the civil society, not the state. Wajahat Ali, a journalist, maintained that the state had a role to play. However, he also added that it must try to reclaim its lost credibility first. Speakers agreed that any direct involvement of the state to promote or support a particular set of thought in response to extremists’ ideology will be counter-productive and fraught with various challenges.

Commenting on the topic, Arshi Salim Hashim, Senior Research Analyst at Institute for Regional Studies opined that Pakistani state has failed to deal with the threat of radicalization on social level. She was of the view that when it comes to public perspective on extremism, it is very important in societies like ours to see the difference between religiosity and religious extremism.

Wajahat Ali stated that religiosity cannot be regarded as a manifestation of radicalization. He further elaborated that in order to formulate effective counter-strategies, it is imperative to understand the phenomenon of radicalization in Pakistani context. The pervasive confusion over the various issues including Pakistan’s decision to support international campaign against terrorism, the U.S drone strikes in Pakistan and the issue of Jihad is manipulated by the militant groups to forward their own agenda. He observed that the average Pakistani takes his religion seriously and wants to see it in the public domain. But unlike the Taliban, he does not want to make it claustrophobic to other people. He wants to progress. But he does not want to abandon his religion.

Mr. Manzar Abbas Zaidi, Director Research at National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA), presented on the issue of radicalization in a conceptual framework. While pointing towards various flaws in academic research on the issue, he said that the term “radical” does not have any negative connotation according to classic linguistic standards. However, in the context of Pakistan, it is defined as a tendency to use a peculiar brand of religion, as the justification for conquest and control over territory, populations and resources. Mr. Zaidi noted that if one has to believe that radicalization is a process, there are four stages of radicalization i.e. Pre-radicalization, Self-identification, Indoctrination and Extremism and a number of social, religious, political and economic factors influence an individual during the process of radicalization. Based on his interactions with imprisoned militants, Mr. Zaidi revealed that those people are happily settled in their thoughts and it will not be an easy task to shake extremists’ convictions. He also negated the general perception about the religious seminaries for their alleged role in promoting radicalization and militancy in society. Militant threat from Madrassa is overblown and this is validated by various researches on this subject, he noted.

Experts’ presentations on the issue were followed by a lively QA session. Responding to a question relating to cultivating counter-narratives to extremist’s ideologies; the chairperson said that our state has been negligent to this challenge of cultivating counter-narratives. Speakers called upon the civil society organizations and intellectuals to come forward and take the lead to undo such hate ideologies. While commenting on the need for defining radicalization in local context, Director PIPS, Mr. Amir Rana asserted that PIPS has already accomplished this task through extensive research and repeated interactions with the leading national and international subject-specialists. Hence, we need to move forward to adopt some practical measures to counter this phenomenon.